Will $4 gas kill the 850?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 28 Mar 2011, 13:21

In Missouri I paid $3.39 for mid grade (89) last Friday. Many places around here sell 87 and 89 for the same price but you get the 10% ethanol for the 89 octane "Plus" fuel. I would much rather run 91 but I wouldn't even dream of running 87 in the turbos.

...Lee

Post by **1997volvo850** » 29 Mar 2011, 20:24

If you demand better gas mileage you should get yourself one of these newer cars that gets better
gas mileage.

: Better Gas Mileage; crash.jpg (70.88 KiB) Viewed 1283 times

For some of us gas mileage is not the reason we drive these cars...

Post by **tjts1** » 29 Mar 2011, 22:03

You would be just as dead in an 850. Whats your point?

zanzabar · Post by **zanzabar** » 30 Mar 2011, 12:31

You'd have to be driving 15k+ miles per year to justify it in my opinion, and even then it's questionable:

15k miles / 20mpg = 750 gallons fuel * $4/gal = $3000
15k miles / 30mpg = 500 gallons fuel * $4/gal = $2000

You save maybe $1000 in fuel by getting a new fuel efficient car, but what will your car payments + insurance cost? $250/month payment + extra $20/month insurance * 12 months = $3240

So is that new car worth the extra $2240?

(note that I am in fact currently paying $4/gallon in the Bay Area, CA.)

zanzabar · Post by **zanzabar** » 30 Mar 2011, 12:41

instarx wrote:
vjaneczko wrote:I laugh at my folks who seem to spend a lot of time looking for the cheapest gas station in the area. The difference is a few pennies, and the extra dime per gallon for premium is a whopping $1.80 for us once we get a full tank. Does it really take that much thought to go with the good stuff?!
Yesterday the US avg gas price was $3.58 for regular and $3.86 for premium. That's a whole lot more than a dime a gallon. For 18 gallons it's a $5.00 difference per tank, not $1.80.

Those avg price numbers don't make a whole lot of sense. I challenge you to find a gas station where premium is more than $0.20 more than regular. $0.20 is only 5% of the $3.80 you'd pay for that premium, is 5% really that difficult to stomach? (Full disclosure I drive an NA and use 87 octane mostly, but I still laugh at people who wait in line and drive up their blood pressure trying to fill up at a "discount" gas station that's $0.10 cheaper than the good quality [Chevron, Shell, etc] one across the street that has open pumps and would save you 15 minutes of your day.)

Post by **jblackburn** » 30 Mar 2011, 12:57

I challenge you to find a gas station where premium is more than $0.20 more than regular.

Head north. Premium can go for as much as 30-40 cents more than regular/gallon.

I just stick with 89.

Post by **Red-Arrow** » 30 Mar 2011, 16:06

Gas is between $4.02 and $4.97 in Los Angeles from what I've seen. I get a poultry 320 miles from 16 gallons US, maybe 350 to empty and that is costing me $65 a pop. Yeah I have a gas leak from the tank. that is another story.

I grew up in Scotland and according to my memory we are in the US paying 1985 gas prices from Europe. Gas is 1.39 per litre in the UK right now in Supermarket station which are the cheapest. That is around $8.70 per Us gallon. Yeah everybody drives and it hasn't stopped them, its just makes them grumpy as you know what. Trust me gas will never run out ,but we will be priced out of that market. Gas or food, take your pick.

The Golden age of the petrol car is almost over guys. Our grand children will not have gas powered cars that is for sure.

Post by **vjaneczko** » 31 Mar 2011, 11:32

Red-Arrow wrote:The Golden age of the petrol car is almost over guys. Our grand children will not have gas powered cars that is for sure.

Rush pretty much had it right back in 1981!

"Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime"

Post by **tjts1** » 31 Mar 2011, 12:41

Red-Arrow wrote: Trust me gas will never run out ,but we will be priced out of that market. Gas or food, take your pick.

The Golden age of the petrol car is almost over guys. Our grand children will not have gas powered cars that is for sure.

Just wait until electrics really catch on. They'll be begging us to pay $1/gallon in 10 years.

Post by **Red-Arrow** » 31 Mar 2011, 14:21

tjts1 wrote:
Red-Arrow wrote: Trust me gas will never run out ,but we will be priced out of that market. Gas or food, take your pick.

The Golden age of the petrol car is almost over guys. Our grand children will not have gas powered cars that is for sure.
Just wait until electrics really catch on. They'll be begging us to pay $1/gallon in 10 years.

Wouldn't that be great if we had that situation (electric cars...) now and in truth it should be.

I feel the resources needed for Electric cars to replace the petrol entirely are great and the electric power to charge the batteries is not in place today. Lithium is found in massive quantities in Afghanistan, 1.5 trillion according to experts what ever that means. What a stroke of luck for the Corporations that are strip-mining the place as we speak.

We will only shift the stress on some other resource. Corn oil or Bio-Diesel is another dead duck. Land for food or bio-diesel? It would push the price of food up. Working for food is not a society I look forward to.

Transportation needs to be ultra light, frictionless or virtually frictionless like a Magnetic levitation system. Who is going to have the money and political power to get that moving? Nobody from what I gather.

The People are the only ones interested in such things because of the pressure placed on them from having to scrape together a living. Not the government, politicians or Corporations as they want maximum profits and are monetarily wealthy anyway. Capitalism has no room for Altruism. Ultimately it will strip-mine the Earth of every single resource as morality, ethics or Environmentalism is not woven into its philosophy.

The Economist's pretend its a science when it's not. They don't understand a fraction of the implications of their Laws and rules, nor do the Politicians who lets face it are in it for themselves.

I have no idea how to fix the world problems that the Governments and Elites have created in truth. I just know We can't fix the problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems. They all have to be removed and replaced with people who don't want the job. People that have a conscience and would admit when they were in error.

I live in Hope.

Will $4 gas kill the 850?

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